Wrapping apparatus with movable hot plate

ABSTRACT

THIS DISCLOSURE RELATES TO PACKAGE WRAPPING APPARATUS COMPRISING A PREWRAP TABLE, A CONVEYOR, A PACKAGE REST, AND A PORTABLE HOT PLATE REMOVABLY MOUNTED OVER SAID PACKAGE REST.

March 16, 1971 LMER ETAL 3,570,215

WRAPPING APPARATUS WITH MOVABLE HOT PLATE Filed Jan. 1'7, 1968 INVENTOK$ V/croz E 1 54mm? JOHN 7-. You/v6- 2914:2111 m, [Mu- AT To an 616 2 United States Patent O "ce 3,570,215 WRAPPING APPARATUS WITH MOVABLE HOT PLATE Victor E. Palmer, Greendale, Wis., and John T. Young,

Lake Bluff, Ill., assignors to Wrapping Machinery Company, Inc., Franksville, Wis.

Filed Jan. 17, 1968, Ser. No. 698,616 Int. Cl. B6511 67/08 US. Cl. 53201 4 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE This disclosure relates to package wrapping apparatus comprising a prewrap table, a conveyor, a package rest, and a portable hot plate removably mounted over said package rest.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS Cross reference is made to assignees copending United States patent applications Ser. No. 640,876, filed May 24, 1967, now US. Patent 3,521,425 granted July 21, 1970, and Ser. No. 662,674, filed Aug. 23, 1967. These patent applications show wrapping apparatus of the type to which the movable hot plate of the present invention is applicable.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION In wrapping apparatus of the type shown in the cross referenced patent applications, it is sometimes necessary to process abnormal packages, for example, those of such a size and weight or shape that it is not expeditious to process the package completely on such apparatus. Under such circumstances, it is conventional in the art to hand wrap such a package. Typically, such a package is prewrapped on the prewrap table and is then transferred to a hot plate on which folded portions of the wrapping film is sealed. This hand wrap sequence does not utilize the conveyor. In the prior art apparatus, the hot plate used for hand wrapping is remote from the prewrap table. Accordingly, the operator cannot continue with the same motion previously used in connection with normal packages, but must use a different package transfer motion in moving the partially wrapped package from the prewrap table to the hot plate. This slows down the wrapping sequence and reduces output.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In accordance with the present invention, a movable or portable hot plate is provided with mounting structure by which it can be removably mounted immediately adjacent the prewrap table and substantially in the same position as the package rest to which a normal, partially wrapped package is normally transferred immediately after being partially wrapped at the prewrap table. This location for the hot plate permits a relatively high rate of processing of abnormal packages because the same sequence of wrapping steps and transfer motions of the partially wrapped package from the prewrap table to the package rest is also utilized as for normal packages.

The hot plate is provided with a handle for the easy manipulation thereof. Accordingly, it is a simple matter to remove the hot plate from its releasable mounting over the package rest and to transfer it to a stored location, whereupon the operator continues to use the same machine for wrapping normal packages.

Other objects, features, and advantages of the invention will appear from the following disclosure.

3,570,215 Patented Mar. 16, 1971 DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a fragmentary perspective view of one embodiment of wrapping machine with movable hot plate of the present invention attached thereto.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing the hot plate in spaced relation to the support arm to which it is removably attached.

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary vertical cross section taken through the apparatus of FIG. 1.

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary perspective view of a different form of wrapping apparatus to which the hot plate of the present invention is releasably attached.

FIG. 5 is a vertical cross section taken through the wrapping apparatus of FIG. 4, showing the hot plate attached thereto.

FIG. 6 is a fragmentary cross section taken along the line 66 of FIG. 5.

PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION Although the disclosure hereof is detailed and exact to enable those skilled in the art to practice the invention, the physical embodiments herein disclosed merely exemplify the invention which may be embodied in other specific structure. The scope of the invention is defined in the claims appended hereto.

FIGS. 1 through 3 relate to one embodiment of the invention in which the wrapping apparatus is substantially the same as that shown in the copending patent application Ser. No. 662,674 aforesaid. This wrapping apparatus comprises a prewrap table 10 supported on legs 11 which also support supply rolls 12, 13 of transparent wrapping film 14. Film 14 is drawn from one or the other of the rolls 12, 13 and is threaded through a series of guide rollers 15, 16, 17, 18 to a guide bar 19. Bar 19 has a plastic surface to which the film tends to adhere. Adjacent to the bar 19 there is a hot wire severing tool 22 suitably mounted on end brackets 23.

At a lower level and projecting rearwardly or outwardly toward the operator is a package rest in the form of a narrow, open-ended support arm 24. Arm 24 has its inner end in cantilever connection to the frame cross piece 25. Package rest 24 is unheated and is used to brace the package as the operator manually draws laterally eX- tending filrn wings to the undersurface of the package.

After a normal package 26 has been wrapped on the prewrap table 10 and the support arm 24, as described in said copending patent application Ser. No. 662,674, it is transferred manually to a conveyor, such as the belt 27, for removal in the direction of arrow 29 to a discharge bin, etc. The belt is desirably heated by traveling over heating means such as a heated support apron 28 so as to heat seal or fuse overlapped film wings beneath the package.

In accordance With the present invention, a movable hot plate 30 can optionally be mounted over the support arm 24, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 3. Means are provided for removably mounting the plate over the arm. For this purpose support arm 24 is provided with spaced sockets 31, and the undersurface of the hot plate is provided with correspondingly spaced pegs 32 which are removably received within the sockets 31. With the hot plate thus mounted on the support arm 24, it is positioned in substantially the same spaced relationship to the prewrap table 10 as the arm 24 which supports it.

Accordingly, an abnormal package can be partially wrapped on the prewrap table 10 and can be transferred immediately to the hot plate 30 in the same motion which is normally utilized to transfer a normal, partially wrapped package from the prewrap table 10 to the package rest 24. When the hot plate 30 is attached to the wrapping machine as shown in FIGS. 1 and 3, however, the pack- 3 age is placed on the hot plate to complete the wrapping operation by folding film wings under the package in the course of setting it down on the hot plate. The film wings are sealed to each other and to the undersurface of the package under the weight of the package against the hot plate.

After sealing the film against the hot plate, as above described, the completely hand wrapped package is trans ferred to a receiving bin or to a take-away conveyor or other package handling apparatus not shown. The conveyor 27 is not ordinarily used.

In the embodiment of the invention shown in FIGS. 4 through 6, the wrapping apparatus is of the type shown in copending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 640,876 aforesaid. The prewrap table 35 is elevated on legs 36 above the level of conveyor 37 which is spaced beneath the prewrap table 35 for normally processing packages as described in said copending application. Conveyor 37 carries the packages toward a heating means such as a heated apron similar to apron 28 of FIG. 1. The input end 38 of the conveyor 37 functions as a landing space or package rest to which a partially wrapped package is transferred from the prewrap table 35, pending its removal by the conveyor 37 in the direction of arrow 41.

In accordance with the present invention, means are provided to removably mount the hot plate 30 over the package rest 38, but in a slightly different manner than in the embodiment of the invention shown in FIGS. 1 through 3. In this instance, a front panel 42 which is mounted on the cross piece 43 of the machine functions as a support stand and has sockets 44 into which hot plate pegs 45 extend. Thus the hot plate 30 will be securely mounted over the package rest 38 to receive and further process abnormal partially wrapped packages, as hereinbefore described.

In both of the embodiments herein disclosed, the hot plate 30 is desirably provided with a handle 46 through which electrical wiring cable 47 extends. The hot plate is manipulated by the operator by means of the handle 46. It is a simple matter for the operator to transfer the hot plate from a storage position (not shown) to its mounted position as shown in the drawings by removably engaging the pegs beneath the hot plate with their support sockets. After the abnormal packages have been processed, the operator simply removes the hot plate by lifting its pegs out of the sockets and restoring the hot plate to its storage position.

Accordingly, wrapping machines embodying the present invention interchangeably present to the operator either an unheated package rest which is utilized in the normal processing of normal packages, or a removable hot plate having substantially the same position as the 4 package rest and which is utilized when processing abnormal packages.

We claim:

1. In a package wrapping apparatus comprising a prewrap table, an unheated package rest on which normal packages are wrapped, a conveyor and heating means toward which the conveyor carries the normal packages for heat sealing said packages, the improvement to increase the utility of said apparatus and adapt it to process abnormal packages which are not adapted to be heat sealed by said heating means, said improvement comprising a portable hot plate and means for removably mounting the hot plate over said package rest to provide a heat seal surface for sealing the wrapping of abnormal packages in the same position as the unheated package rest is used for wrapping normal packages.

2. In a package wrapping apparatus comprising a prewrap table, an unheated package rest and a conveyor to carry away normally processed packages, the improvement comprising a portable hot plate and means for re movably mounting the hot plate over said package rest to provide a heat seal surface for sealing the wrapping of abnormally processed packages, said package rest Comprising a narrow open-ended support arm, said means comprising a pin and socket connection between the arm and the hot plate.

3. In a package wrapping apparatus comprising a prewrap table, an unheated package rest and a conveyor to carry away normally processed packages, the improvement comprising a portable hot plate and means for removably mounting the hot plate over said package rest to provide a heat seal surface for sealing the wrapping of abnormally processed packages, said package rest being disposed at the input end of said conveyor, said means comprising a support stand and a pin socket connection between the stand and the hot plate.

4. The apparatus of claim 1 in which said hot plate has a handle by which the plate can be manipulated in the course of removably mounting it over said package rest.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,609,316 9/1952 Fichtner 53379X 2,703,133 3/1955 Payton 53379X 2,840,962 7/1958 Stremke et a1. 53390X 3,263,392 8/1966 Detrella et al 53-390X 3,381,449 5/1968 Vaughan 53-390 0 THERON E. CONDON, Primary Examiner R. L. SPRUILL, Assistant Examiner U.S. Cl. X.R. 53390 

